Coinbase Faces SEC Probe Over Alleged Securities Listing: Report
- SEC has been on the move to investigate some of the tokens listed on Coinbase after alleging that seven cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase were securities, last week.
One of the world’s leading publicly-traded cryptocurrency companies, Coinbase is reportedly facing an investigation from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for allegedly listing securities.
According to a report from Bloomberg on Monday, the regulatory body suspects that the US’ largest cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase is allowing users to trade unregistered securities.
SEC Probes Coinbase Amid Increased Listings
The regulatory backlash from the SEC has been persisting for a while as it has sought to heighten its supervision over cryptocurrencies following the recent market crash that has seen digital currencies tumble from all-time highs, erasing hundreds of billions of dollars in market value.
Being the largest crypto trading platform in the US, the exchange Coinbase offers trading services to US users for more than 150 tokens. However, SEC has been more triggered to scrutinize the exchange after it recently expanded the number of tokens in which it offers trading.
According to the report, the exchange’s asset directory page features over 200 tokens at the time of writing. The increased token offering has contributed to the SEC’s decision to investigate the regulatory status of the listed tokens. Furthermore, the SEC has recently accused Coinbase’s ex-staff of violating its insider-trading rules before the recent probing.
Following the unrelated insider trading case, SEC claimed to have realized that nine of the dozens of digital tokens traded with the ex-staff were securities meanwhile, seven tokens out of it were among the ones the exchange says it lists.
It appears that Coinbase is yet to get definite clarity on what defines securities exactly despite SEC holding its ground that most digital assets are securities. A few days ago, Coinbase summoned the SEC to propose clear rules for the trading of digital assets.
The exchange urged the regulator to clarify which digital assets it considers to be securities. Coinbase issued the petition as it emphasized the importance of establishing guardrails, given the market meltdown that has wiped out trillions of dollars and bankrupted several companies.
Although the report revealed that neither Coinbase nor the SEC has commented on the alleged case of listed securities. However, Coinbase has recently disputed allegations insinuating that it lists securities via a blog post. The statement reads;
“Coinbase does not list securities. End of story.”
Furthermore, the Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, Paul Grewal also responded to a query on related matters saying;
“We are confident that our rigorous diligence process, a process the SEC has already reviewed, keeps securities off our platform, and we look forward to engaging with the SEC on the matter.”
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
